Challenger
by Nicklas Davidsson
Summary: Pokémon are dangerous creatures. Take away the science and technology which propelled humanity to the apex and we are but flesh and blood in a world filled with powers beyond our understanding. But I was never scared, I never hesitated. My name is Red and I am the 31st Champion of the Indigo Plateau, this is my story.


Chapter 1: A New Wind Blows

 _Darkness engulfs my vision._

 _All around me I can hear the crashing sound of the cave coming down around me, the power contained within it finally released. Somehow, I feel I've made a huge mistake, that I've finally taken a challenge I cannot conquer._

 _I think I am going to die._

* * *

Red peered at the letter in his hand. His mothered looked at him from across the kitchen, the unasked question gleaming in her eyes. He folded the paper and picked up the envelope which it had arrived in.

He turned it upside down and a small metallic card fell out, gleaming in contact with the fresh rays of sun coming through the window. The young man leaned over and looked at it with fascination. His picture was embedded on it, along with his name and identification code. At the top was however the most important.

 _Pokémon Trainer Licence, 1_ _st_ _Class_

He read it out loud.

His mother gasped and he looked up at her. He knew that she was proud of him for his achievement. But he also knew that somewhere deep down she had wanted him to fail, for him to abandon his desires and live out his life in Pallet Town. Pokémon training was a dangerous occupation and she had already lost much. Sometimes he toyed with the idea of doing exactly as she secretly desires, but he knew that Pallet would slowly drive joy out of his very soul, he was born to wander, to see and to experience the world outside.

A silence hanged in the kitchen, the two of them both unsure what to say.

It was his mothered who finally broke the silence, telling him to finish his breakfast before it got cold. Red blinked at her. He didn't want to finish breakfast, in his hand burned his ticket to freedom and he craved to use it.

He forced himself to calm down. Impulsiveness and impatience were not good characteristic for a Pokémon trainer. Acting without thinking had spelled the death of countless trainers. What he needed now was a plan of action. Paths were opened to him now that had previously been closed and he needed to evaluate them all one more time before setting forth, just to be sure that he was making the right decision.

Red grabbed his sandwich and took a bite.

* * *

 _Me and my mother moved to Pallet Town when I was just an infant. My father had recently passed away during a military operation and mother, rightfully, desired a change of scenery._

 _Why Pallet?_

 _Honestly, I still don't know how she came to choose the small rural village as our new home. It was far away from anything resembling interesting and beyond the expansive Pokémon Ranch which Professor Oak ran, there was nothing which would draw outsiders._

 _I grew up like any other child and as I grew in age I grew in curiosity. What exactly existed outside the borders of our little community?_

 _It was my mother who started teaching me, when I was still young about the wonder that was Pokémon. What she had learned from my father she tried her best to pass to me. It was not enough. I quickly surpassed her in knowledge of the monsters but my thirst had been triggered and I needed to know more._

 _That's where Professor Oak came into the picture._

 _The former Indigo Champion had settled down in Pallet not long before me, to take care of his two grandchildren. Their father had been a ACE Trainer, the League's elite force, and had passed away in service, much like mine. The grief had driven his wife, Oak's daughter, to suicide and the Pokémon professor had been landed with two young children to take care of._

 _Blue, as many of you know, was and still is one of my closest friends. Despite our relative socioeconomic difference the two of us understood each other. Neither of our guardians had much time for us, mine because she was busy working to pay bills and his because being one of the frontier Pokémon researchers was a time-consuming activity._

 _I don't remember when me and Blue started spending our free time with each other. All my life we have been permanent fixtures in each other's lives. Even now, after having left Pallet, our destinies seem tightly interwoven._

 _But more on Blue later, the professor is the important part here._

 _When he had time, the aging scholar had satisfied my thirst for knowledge. The ranch he ran contained a vast election of creatures he had introduced me and Blue to. From the gluttonous Raticate to the majestic Ninetails we had been subjected to wonders that most parents tried desperately to keep their children away from._

 _And in those lessons our ambitions had been forged._

 _Me and Blue had always been competitive, desperately seeking to outsmart and outdo. It had resulted in fantastic school results, in a vast selection of sport trophies and a deep knowledge of different games of skill. But when we heard the stories of the great Pokémon trainers and the Pokémon League Challenge which was famous in the bigger cities we both knew what the ultimate goal was._

* * *

"So, what is your plan exactly?" Professor Oak asked him. Skimming over the available busses for Viridian City, Red spared him a quick glance. He needed to make sure he didn't miss out on any details. Still, he would be rude to ignore the man, especially considering how much help he had been through Red's life.

Red told him of his plan to join the Pokémon Ranger Corps stationed in Viridian City, on how he would spend any free time he had in the Pokémon Gym and how after he had served minimum time would leave the Rangers to travel the region. The Rangers were perfect he told Oak, they provided pay, lodging, training and most importantly, a Pokémon to all their new recruits.

"The minimum time in the Rangers is four years. You sure you can last that long? It's not glamourous work." The Professor asked curiously. "And most importantly, it's a hierarchical organization, you've never been much for following orders."

He was right of course. But Red had little choice, he and his mother didn't have the savings to afford a Pokémon trained for battling. And four years might be a long time but Red was only seventeen, he would still be young when released for service. He told the professor as much.

The elderly man sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes, I wish you kids would be better at asking for help, instead of thinking you have to live life on your own full makings."

Red peered at him confused. Oak glanced down at his watch, he most probably had some meeting he needed to attend. He had come over to congratulate Red on his trainer licence and the teen didn't think he was going to hang around for long. He knew the depth of Red's ambitions and would never try to talk him out of it. Still, he had a steely expression on his face, as if the situation wasn't quite to his liking.

"What if there was a second option?" The professor suddenly asked. Red's expression continued being confounded. "How about if you come and work for me instead? I'm pretty sure I could provide similar benefits without the restrictions."

Red simply blinked.

Professor Oak, former Champion of the Indigo League and one of the greatest minds regarding Pokémon, was offering him a job? For anyone who desired a career in academia it would be the wettest dream they had ever had. But Red had never even imagined a future as a researcher, the offer came as a curveball. He needed time to think.

Red didn't even need to say anything. "If you're interested please come by the laboratory tomorrow morning. One of my aides will send you some more details later this afternoon."

* * *

 _Gary Oak was born on the 14_ _th_ _of August 1993._

 _Raised by the esteemed professor Oak there was few who doubted that he would have a promising career no matter what path he chose. Still, nobody expected the tremors he would make as he took on the League in record time, toppling the Dragon King himself and seized the title of Indigo Champion._

 _Well nobody but me. I never had any doubts the young Oak would see the top, much like I never had any doubts that I one day would remove him from it. Such was the way it had always been, Gary started something and became the best, then I joined and took his titles._

 _Neither of us remember why we are called Red and Blue, we have however been told that we gave each other the monikers. The names have stuck around and become more famous than our real ones, spattered over the media as they have been._

 _Most people imagine Blue as an arrogant elitist who got success served on a silver plate. But the truth is far from that. Never have I met a person so inclined to work hard for his successes and never have I met someone so nonchalant of titles and fame. Achievements were what mattered to Blue, to gain his respect you proved you deserved it and who you were before didn't matter._

 _We started our journey together, I'll admit that for most of the time he was ahead of me. But I caught up in the end._

 _Caught up, and pushed myself in front._

* * *

"So, Gramps came to his senses and finally offered you a position here as well." Red looked at Blue in surprise. It wasn't much of a surprise that the professor would offer his grandson a position with him, Red was mostly surprised that Blue had taken up on the offer.

In the end, it hadn't been much of a question if he should take the position that the professor had offered to him. The email which he had received had contained a mass of information about the perks of becoming one of Oak's little helpers. A basic salary, a variety of offers regarding lodging and food all over Kanto and Johto, a personal account in the League Pokémon Storage Unit and most importantly, a starter Pokémon.

Moreover, the email contained the essential detail which tipped the scale, the offer was for a fieldwork position. He wouldn't be stuck in Pallet doing research on the creatures of Oak's ranch, instead he would be travelling the region. To what end he still didn't know.

"He's was an idiot not to do it weeks ago. Just in case you had made some rash decision and already promised yourself to the Rangers or the Armed Forces." Blue's words drew Red out of his thoughts. Blue's desire for him to join him in whatever journey the professor had planned was warming.

"An idiot, am I?" Professor Oak's voice carried into the foyer of his laboratory and Red almost laughed as Blue froze in place, panic in his face. "I am pretty sure that my mental functions are completely healthy." He stepped into view. "And I am also sure that my knowledge and intellectual fortitude is far beyond both of yours."

Following Oak into the foyer was a girl that both Red and Blue recognized.

"Leaf?" Blue asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

Leaf opened her mouth to answer but the professor beat her to it. "She is joining the two of you as one of my new assistants." He paused and gave Blue a long look before continuing. "She, unlike you two had the decency to apply for a position, instead of waiting for it to be offered."

Leaf was one of their classmates, ambitious and talented she had for years been the only one who could keep up with them. Red had always thought that she would leave directly for university after high school was over, he certainly had never thought she was interested in Pokémon.

"Please," Oak said and gestured towards the main laboratory hall. "Follow me." The three teenagers quietly fell in behind the professor.

It didn't matter how many times Red visited the laboratory, he was equally amazed every time he could set foot inside. All around them Oak's various aides and assistants were working of different projects, all of them trying to uncover some new secret that Pokémon contained. They passed a variety of Pokémon, people and machines before arriving in a small conference room, barren except for a briefcase on the central table. As they entered Oak gestured for them to take a seat.

"You are probably wondering exactly why I have decided to offer the three of you an opportunity to join my research." He said as the teenagers had sat down. "None of you are exactly researcher material yet, despite your stellar academic achievements. The truth is," he took a pause, seemingly searching for the right way to continue "I'm getting old."

Blue coughed, attempting to hide his chuckle and the professor shot him an annoyed look.

"I can no longer do the fieldwork which is essential for my research to function. And while I have competent people here they are scholars, not proper Pokémon trainers." Red thought that he heard disappointment in the elder's voice. "The more dangerous ventures which I used to take to produce data are now blocked off from me."

The senior Oak gave the trio a serious look. "That's where I need the three of you. All of you have in diverse ways shown extreme competence on your Trainer Examination and I believe that with the right guidance could take up my old work. Beyond that I understand that some of you have desires which would require substantial travelling." This he directed more towards Red and Blue.

"My offer is this," the professor's voice became deadly serious "I will provide the three of you with a starter Pokémon, give you the benefits of working for me, and in exchange you will travel around the region doing assignments for me. During your free time, I will allow you to pursue your own activities as you desire."

It was better than Red could ever have hoped for.

"What do you say?"

 _End chapter 1_


End file.
